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Saturday, June 10, 2017

No Dorothy, It's Not Kansas Anymore -- It's Third World Country Kansas Now...

[click pic to enlarge ]

Anyhow, so while the Drumpf/Russian traveling freak show continues it's disturbing run, something very interesting happened this past week down in the very deep red, conservative state of Kansas.

First - a little history. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback rode the hard right, Tea Party wave to victory in 2010 promising the good people of his state that he would show them dirty fucking liberal hippie democrats how to properly govern while simultaneously instituting across the board (mostly for the wealthy and corporations) cuts of those evil liberal taxes.

All the conservatives cheered Brownback on at that time -- there was joyous rapture in the Kansas Republican party as the other Teabagger politicians consolidated their control of Kansas state government and moved swiftly with a jihad to purge moderates from their party and pave the way for Brownback's promised bold, new tax cut plan.

GOP moderates, democrats and yes - even the evil liberal hippies - tried in vain to warn Kansas voters of the impending catastrophe that was headed their way if they appeased the new Teabagger governor and his nincompoop enablers in the Tea Party, but just like the dire warnings issued by liberals to voters about the consequences of electing Donald Trump to the presidency, those warnings fell on deaf ears, dumb minds and blind senses.

And of course, cutting right to the chase dear readers, the inevitable and predictable has occurred - after 5+ years of Sam Brownback's and the Tea Party's tax cut mania, the state of Kansas is a fiscal train wreck, they are deeply mired in a budget deficit hole, their economy is in a tailspin, and they have insufficient revenue to pay for basic societal needs such as adequate funding for public schools, safe and well maintained roads, bridges, buildings and other vital areas of the state's infrastructure, or even the competent running of their own state government:

TOPEKA Lawmakers rolled back Gov. Sam Brownback’s signature tax policy over his objections Tuesday night, forcing into law tax increases to fix a budget shortfall and provide more money for schools.

The legislation ends the "march to zero" income tax cuts that Brownback heralded for much of his time as governor.

Income taxes will rise across the board but most tax rates will remain lower than they were before the 2012 tax cuts. The increases are expected to generate more than $1.2 billion for the state over the next two years.

The Senate and House voted 27-13 and 88-31, respectively, to override Brownback’s veto. The action took place on the 109th day of the legislative session and paves the way for lawmakers to wrap up their work quickly, potentially this week.

The override represents a blow to the legacy of one of the most unpopular governors in America, amid speculation that he may not serve out his remaining time in office but instead take a federal position.

That's right -- the vaunted Tea Party philosophy of no taxation EVER! has basically been proven to be the death knell of a viable, functioning society.

It got so bad, that even Brownback's own state Republican party members have abandoned him and this week they demonstrated their remorse for listening to the Tea Party tax-cuts-for-everyone loons by joining forces with Kansas Democrats to override a Brownback veto of a $1.2 billion dollar tax hike in an attempt to undo some of the Tea Party tax slashing asshattery that has devastated their state's finances and economy.

But here's the scary thing folks -- the same incompetent, conservative cretins who worked with Brownback to devise the Kansas tax plan are now working with Trump and the congressional Republicans to implement that very same tax plan for the entire country and if people don't put a stop to them, there is no doubt that they will do to the national economy exactly what they did to the state of Kansas and their economy.

And as for all of you dear readers -- well, you are all adults -- you can speak out and make your voices heard about this if you wish, or you can just sit back and wait for the Kansasification of your economic futures just like the poor dumb bastards in Sam Brownback's state did.